Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

California's Unique Approach To Arbitration: Why This Road Less Traveled Will Make All The Difference On The Issue Of Preemption Under The Federal Arbitration Act, Michael G. Mcguiness, Adam J. Karr

Journal of Dispute Resolution

We begin this article by framing the issue in simple terms. The statute itself is clear. The FAA contains a "savings clause" that provides that arbitration agreements shall be "valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.", By its terms, the FAA permits courts to refuse to enforce arbitration agreements if the agreement is invalid under state laws that "arose to govern issues concerning the validity, revocability, and enforceability of contracts generally."

No Notice Is Good News: Notice Under The New Ombuds Standards For The Establishment And Operation Of Ombuds Offices , Katherine A. Welch

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The American Bar Association (ABA) recently announced its decision to endorse the revised Standards for the Establishment and Operation of Ombuds Offices, dated February 2004.1 A modification to the 2001 Standards for the Establishment and Operation of Ombuds Offices, 2 the new Standards are responsible for certain clarifications of the role of an ombuds. One such clarification is that of notice in the employment context. Under the new Standards, communications made to an ombuds regarding complaints of violations or unlawful practices within the workplace do not constitute notice to the employer, provided that the ombud's practices are consistent with the …

Lack Of Meaningful Choice Defined: Your Job Vs. Your Right To Sue In A Judicial Forum, Sara Lingafelter

Seattle University Law Review

Mandatory arbitration agreements subvert an employee's constitutional right to a judicial forum and generally place unfair burdens on plaintiffs. An employee faced with the option of either signing a mandatory arbitration agreement or losing a job often has no meaningful choice. The Supreme Court, however, has failed to recognize first that Congress did not intend for mandatory arbitration to extend to Title VII claims and second, that employers often leave employees with no meaningful choice regarding mandatory arbitration. Nonetheless, state and federal judges are increasingly recognizing that arbitration agreements may be the product of procedural unconscionability. Accordingly, when employees are …

Fitting The Forum To The Fuss With Sticky Defaults: Failure In The Market For Dispute Resolution Services?, Maurits Barendrecht, Berend R. De Vries

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

"Fitting the forum to the fuss" - i.e., finding the optimal way to deal with every dispute - is an appealing slogan of proponents of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR"). The phrase also summarizes the contract one would expect rational disputants to make once they are embroiled in a conflict they cannot resolve together. Disputants can "buy" dispute resolution services, such as various forms of court intervention, mediation, or arbitration. Agreeing to a contract to buy such services together with an opponent, however, is likely to be difficult. These difficulties are assessed in this article. The barriers to dispute resolution are …

Mediation And Justice: What Standards Govern?, Joseph B. Stulberg

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

I find it challenging to write about mediation and justice for several perplexing reasons. The concept of justice is constitutionally ambiguous; trying to analyze it concretely is a challenging task for both writer and reader. Despite the concept's ambiguity, however, each of us can readily describe situations that instantly appall us for reasons that we intuitively identify as constituting acts or occasions of injustice. The irony then, and hence the challenge, is that we know that the concept of justice is an important phenomenon to address, yet we have difficulty saying something constructive or useful about it.

The Myth Of The Gladiator And Law Students' Negotiation Styles, Melissa L. Nelken

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

"Shark." "Hired gun." The popular view is that lawyers are, by and large, cut-throat competitors who take the ethical obligation of zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients to the extreme, heedless of the cost to others or to society as a whole. The adversarial system (with its winners and losers), law school teaching, and the portrayal of lawyers in popular media, all feed this stereotype. The focus on litigation promotes misperceptions about what most lawyers actually do. Lawyers make deals and resolve virtually all litigated matters short of trial, often through negotiation. Studies of lawyers' behavior in negotiation over …

Shifting The Focus From The Myth Of "The Vanishing Trial" To Complex Conflict Management Systems, Or I Learned Almost Everything I Need To Know About Conflict Resolution From Marc Galanter, John Lande

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

To say that "The Vanishing Trial" is a myth is not to suggest that the facts or analysis in Professor Galanter's report are fictional or inaccurate. Indeed, he marshals a massive amount of data to show that the number of trials and the trial rates have been declining for the past four decades, particularly in the federal courts. The report documents an apparent paradox: the proportion of cases going to trial has dropped sharply during the past forty years despite substantial increases in many other legal indicators including the number of lawyers, the number of cases filed, and the amount …

Masthead, Cardozo Journal Of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 7 (2005-06)

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Adr: The New Equity, Thomas O. Main

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Foreward: Competing And Complementary Rule Systems: Civil Procedure And Adr, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

This is a foreword to articles submitted as part of the Association of American Law School’s Symposium during at the January 2004 AALS’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia entitled "Competing or Complementary Rule Systems? Adjudication, Arbitration and the Procedural World of the Future." The session brought together panelists whose expertises ranged across the academy. The legal academics were joined by the federal district judge now chairing the committee charged by the Judicial Conference of the United States to draft federal civil procedural rules. The stimulating session reflected on the relationship between litigation and non-litigation approaches to dispute resolution. Participants explored …

Separate And Not Equal: Integrating Civil Procedure And Adr In Legal Academia, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

Traditionally, academics specializing in ADR and civil procedure have not tended to deal with each other's issues. The typical civil procedure course focuses on litigation, and at best throws in a few classes on mediation and negotiation. Similarly, the typical ADR course devotes little or no attention to litigation, law, courts, or administrative institutions. Thus, the two disciplines are taught quite separately. Further, this separation is not equal. While students are required to learn about litigation, and are also offered many additional litigation electives, the ADR curriculum is almost always purely elective, and the classes are much smaller. Yet, the …

The Myth Of The Gladiator And Law Students' Negotiation Styles, Melissa Lee Nelken

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Court Or Arbitrator—Who Decides Whether Res Judicata Bars Subsequent Arbitration Under The Federal Arbitration Act?, Jarrod Wong

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Cardozo Journal Of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 6, Iss. 2

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Recipient Of The 2004 International Advocate For Peace Award, Eve Ensler

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

The Unguided Use Of Internal Adr Programs To Resolve Sexual Harassment Controversies In The Workplace, Jessica Oser

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will explore some of the concerns raised by the use of mandatory IDR mechanisms in the workplace, particularly in the context of resolving sexual harassment disputes. As previously noted, the use of IDR in the workplace can be highly effective and beneficial for both the employee and the employer. However, just as the Food and Drug Administration approves drugs that have potentially harmful side effects, the public and the U.S. government should approve of the use of IDR mechanisms despite the potential for abuse. In both circumstances, the public deserves to be warned about the possible dangers. This …

Is Alternative Dispute Resolution Really An Alternative For Federal Employees?: Possible Suggestions For Encouraging Federal Employees To Participate In Adr Programs, Lisa Pell

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will examine the various dispute resolution programs employed by the federal government. Part One of this Note will look at the different federal programs and determine their usefulness. Part Two will establish that ADR is not being used to its potential. Part Three will discuss the reasons for the low ADR usage. Part Four will suggest options for increasing ADR usage in federally implemented programs. Finally, Part Five will conclude that if the federal agencies took advantage of their own programs, the possibilities for change are great.

Mindfulness Meditation, The Cultivation Of Awareness, Mediator Neutrality, And The Possibility Of Justice, Evan M. Rock

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note argues that the cultivation of awareness through meditation enhances a mediator's ability to be neutral, thereby increasing the possibility of just outcomes from mediation sessions. Part I introduces and explains the basic practice of mindfulness meditation. Part II examines the necessity of neutrality for just outcomes in mediation, the classical view of neutrality as impartiality, and the importance of a mediator's awareness of his biases and preferences for maintaining neutrality. Part III examines the use of procedure in maintaining neutrality during a mediation session, and how a mediator's awareness of his thoughts and emotions can be helpful in …

The Vanishing Trial: Land Mine On The Mediation Landscape Or Opportunity For Evolution: Ruminations On The Future Of Mediation Practice, Kimberlee K. Kovach

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Several decades ago, mediation developed as an alternative to the use of courts for resolving disputes. Over the years, the use of mediation to resolve lawsuits has greatly increased. The reasons for this evolution are numerous, and the primary underlying impetus for the use of mediation has, in many cases, impacted just how the process is conducted. For example, some view mediation as a process which provides individuals or groups engaged in a dispute or conflict with a collaborative and flexible process for dispute resolution. This view of the process also encourages party participation and empowerment, which often allows relationships …

A Case For Mediating Trademark Disputes In The Age Of Expanding Brands, David Allen Bernstein

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note proposes that there is an alternative method that ensures the viability of brand names while avoiding litigation. Companies must be willing to enter a process which will explore the possibility of a mutually beneficial solution, perhaps in the form of a settlement agreement allowing both parties to use the mark or brand name. The process best suited to guide such parties and achieve such a result is mediation.

The New Iraq: Resolving Public And Private Obligations Incurred Under Saddam Hussein's Rule In The Context Of International Arbitration, Darius Adam Marzec

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq collapsed on April 9, 2003, after an American-led coalition invasion. The coalition quickly deposed the Iraqi dictator and began the process of turning the nation away from authoritarian rule, murder, and death, to civility. While Saddam Hussein is gone, and no government-supported oppression of people exists, another form of tyranny persists: Iraq's modern economy is burdened with $383 billion in public debt and judgments. Adding insult to injury, after the coalition troops drove up to Baghdad through the desert, Iraq's banking system turned out to be insolvent.

Military Spying In The United States: When It Is Not Your Neighbor Knocking At Your Door, Where Do You Turn?, Miriam Schneider

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will describe the role of the military in the United States and its relationship to privacy rights. Part I of this Note will describe the historical underpinnings that led to a limited role for the military within the United States territory, beyond defending against attack. Part II will describe the expectations by the courts and legislature for the military. In addition, it will illustrate instances where the military, along with numerous federal agencies, overstepped its traditional, constitutional and legal bounds. Part III will offer the legislature's response to, and its subsequent regulation of, the military and other federal …

Mobile Home Mania? Protecting Procedurally Fair Arbitration In A Consumer Microcosm, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Consumers' lack of warranty remedies prompted Congress to enact the 2000 Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA). Under the Act, the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must develop a program for resolving MH warranty disputes by the end of 2005. This article provides input regarding that program. It also calls for broader protection of procedural fairness in arbitration of disputes regarding warranties for mobile or manufactured homes (referred to in the article as MHs for ease of reference). Although HUD's program aims to create a process for resolving warranty disputes among manufacturers, dealers and installers, this article proposes that …

To Sue Is Human; To Settle Divine: Intercultural Collaborations To Expand The Use Of Mediation In Costa Rica, Donald C. Peters

UF Law Faculty Publications

Virtually all societies have developed non-adjudicative methods to resolve disputes. Third party intervention to help resolve disputes consensually, typically called mediation or conciliation, occurs in all cultures throughout the world. It now occurs in Costa Rica only voluntarily and primarily in family, community, labor, agricultural, and trade contexts.

Connecting mediation or conciliation to court systems provides a comparatively new use of third party interventions not involving adjudication through arbitration or litigation. This typically occurs by referring matters for mediation services provided by state-funded programs, private centers, and private mediators. Florida, the first American state to authorize courts to order mediation …

The Culture Of Legal Denial, Jonathan R. Cohen

UF Law Faculty Publications

The goals of this essay are twofold. The first is to examine critically the practice of lawyers assisting clients in denying harms they commit and suggest some ways of changing that practice. Lawyers commonly presume that their clients' interests are best served by denial. Yet such a presumption is not warranted. Given the moral, psychological, relational, and sometimes even economic risks of denial to the injurer, lawyers should consider discussing responsibility taking more often with clients. The second is to explore several structural or systemic factors that may reinforce the practice of denial seen day in and day out within …

Resolution Procedures To Resolve Trust Beneficiary Complaints, Robert Whitman

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

When Contracting Around The Law Will Not Work: The Potential Inability To Expressly Prohibit Punitive Damages In Arbitration, Alexia Norris

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Just as the availability of all appropriate remedies is an important part of judicial litigation, the attempt to identify and limit those remedies is an issue in an arbitration proceeding. After the United States Supreme Court's 1995 decision in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., it seemed clear that parties would be allowed to seek punitive damages if an agreement did not expressly prohibit such damages. Even so, parties continue to falter in writing agreements meant to contain the proper language that will succeed in limiting the availability of certain remedies. This is due to the continued confusion over how …

Dispute Resolution, Access To Civil Justice And Legal Education, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Articles & Book Chapters

This article examines current dispute resolution teaching and research programs in the context of improving access to justice through recent civil justice reform initiatives. Animated by extensive domestic and international literature, online and survey-based research, the article explores the landscape of alternative dispute resolution education (primarily at law schools), comments on the need for continued thinking and reform and acts as a leading resource to assist in the ongoing, collaborative development of dispute resolution initiatives in legal education in Canada and abroad.

2004 Special Masters Conference: Transcript Of Proceedings, Various Special Masters

William Mitchell Law Review

A historic gathering of special masters occurred on October 15th and 16th, 2004 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Federal and state court-appointed masters from around the country met for the first time to share their experiences as special masters and to form a national association of court appointed masters. This issue of the William Mitchell Law Review contains articles presented at the conference and the transcript of faculty presentations. Throughout the transcript of faculty presentations, the word “speaker” denotes a conference attendee.

Regulating International Arbitrators: A Functional Approach To Developing Standards Of Conduct, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

Some scholars have protested that arbitrators are subject to less exacting regulation than barbers and taxidermists. The real problem with international arbitrators, however, is not that they are subject to less regulation, but that no one agrees about how they should be regulated. The primary reason for judicial and scholarly disagreement is that, instead of a coherent theory, analysis of arbitrator conduct erroneously relies on a misleading judicial referent and a methodologic failure to separate conduct standards (meaning those norms or rules that guide arbitrators' professional conduct) from enforcement standards (meaning those narrow grounds under which an arbitral award can …